1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a release binding for a ski and a means and a method for attaching the binding to a ski.
2. Description of Background and Other Information
Presently known safety bindings for skis which are adapted to maintain the front of a boot (toe bindings) or the rear of the boot (heel bindings), generally include a body or housing on which a jaw is mounted for retention of the boot, this body being solidly affixed, at its lower part, to a base by which the safety binding is mounted on the ski. The mounting of the body of the binding is achieved by means of screws which go through holes bored in the base and which are screwed into the upper surface of the ski.
For the mounting of certain safety bindings, and particularly front bindings, a "hidden" screw is frequently utilized, i.e., a screw which is not accessible once the binding is mounted on the ski. The "hidden" screw is screwed into the ski before the binding is secured in its final position. It is a shouldered screw having a head with a large diameter extended by a body with an intermediate diameter, and a threaded rod with a small diameter. Once it is thoroughly screwed into the ski, the head of the screw is maintained at a height determined with respect to the surface of the ski, this height corresponding to that of the body of the screw.
This "hidden" screw cooperates with a slot in the shape of a buttonhole which is formed in the lower surface of the base of the binding. The slot includes two parts, namely a circular part with a diameter greater than that of the screw head so as to permit the passage of the head through it, and a longitudinal slit opening into the circular part and having a width equal to the diameter of the screw body.
The mounting of a safety binding maintained by such a "hidden" screw requires a certain number of operations. In the first place, the person who mounts the binding, after having opened the packing box for the binding, must find in the box the "hidden" screw which, because of its cooperation with the buttonhole-shaped slot, has a certain configuration. After that, the operator must thoroughly screw this screw into a front hole provided for this purpose in the upper surface of the ski. Then he or she must take hold of the binding, apply it flat on the ski and displace it, feeling his or her way, until he or she is able to make the circular opening of the buttonhole-shaped slot correspond with the head of the "hidden" screw. At this moment he or she presses on the binding so as to engage the head of the "hidden" screw in the circular opening of the buttonhole and he or she then slides the binding longitudinally so that the body with an intermediate diameter which is provided under the screw head engages in the longitudinal slit of the slot. The operator then completes the mounting of the binding by the screwing of other screws provided for this purpose.
If such a method of mounting is preferable because the "hidden" screw does not require any particular arrangement in the upper part of the binding, it still has the disadvantage that the hidden screw must be individually set apart in the packing box for the binding to be screwed to the ski. Moreover, this screw can be lost, which poses a particular problem, given the particular configuration that the "hidden" screw has in order to be able to cooperate with the buttonhole-shaped slot.
Furthermore, there are known safety bindings which are provided with means for maintaining the fixation screws in place in their respective holes provided in the base. Such a binding is described, for example, in French Patent Application No. 2,208,692.